In the operation of modern day landfills, it is imperative to obtain maximum compaction of the material deposited in the landfills to utilize their available capacity to its fullest extent. To that end, a relatively specialized machine has been developed to break up and compress the refuse and is commonly known as a landfill compactor. The typical landfill compactor has specialized wheels that have a plurality of individual teeth that extend radially from a cylindrical drum. The teeth are separated from one another to localize the pressure exerted by the weight of the machine on the ends of the respective teeth. In doing so, more pressure is applied to the material underfoot to thereby increase the amount of compactive force applied by the machine.
The configuration of compactor wheels is varied. Most wheel configurations have a plurality of teeth that are positioned in axially spaced rows that are evenly distributed across the width of the cylindrical drum defined by the wheel. The teeth of one axially spaced row are circumferentially offset from the next so as to stagger the circumferential spacing about the drum. In many instances, the teeth are substantially truncated and end in a slight taper or point. This type of tooth is generally known as a "sheepsfoot" tooth and is intended primarily for compressing the material underfoot as much as possible as the machine makes several passes over the fill area. While this type of wheel has been known to work very well for its intended purpose, the nature of the environment in which they operate provides very difficult obstacles to the operation of the machine.
One such obstacle that is particularly prevalent is the tendency for the wheel assembly to catch material on the teeth and entrain it about the adjacent axle assembly as the machine traverses the landfill. Wire which is very often disposed of in landfills is a particular problem. Typically the inner row of teeth, particularly on a sheepsfoot wheel, will snag the wire and carry it around the axle. As the movement of the machine continues, the wire will at some point in time become entrained about the axle, trapping all kinds of other debris, which will eventually become packed into all the areas in and around the frame and the axle of the machine. Not only does this packing of material interfere with the proper operation of the machine, in some cases preventing proper axle oscillation, it also creates tremendous wear to the structure of the wheel assemblies. This situation can only be alleviated by removing the machine to a work area, removing the wheel assemblies, cutting the wire and debris away with a torch and manually removing the debris from the axle and frame. This is not only a costly, labor intensive exercise, but the machine is taken out of production while this maintenance is performed. Ultimately, this greatly increases cost and inefficiency of the overall landfill operation.
In order to alleviate this problem, several different cutting devices have been added to the axle and/or wheel assembly to cut the debris as the wheel rotates. While some cutting devices have been known to work in some applications, their efficiency is highly variable, requiring periodic debris removal maintenance anyway. Additionally, some of the various cutting devices require a multitude of additional components which increases the overall cost of the machine.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.